Airliners-India.com

megatop747

PANAJI, GOA: Nine ships are searching off the Goa coast for a naval aircraft that crashed last night, leaving two pilots missing. The captain of the aircraft, Commander Nikhil Joshi, was rescued by a fishing vessel and is in hospital. A woman officer is among the pair that has yet to be found.

Rescue operations were underway today after Dornier aircraft plunged into the sea some 25 nautical miles off Goa at around 10 pm last night.

"Last evening a navy Dornier during a routine training sortie off Goa ditched into sea," a navy statement said.

"One survivor rescued. Full scale search and rescue operation launched to locate two more officers (one pilot and one observer)," it added.

This is the first crash of a Dornier, the navy has 32 of these aircraft. It is also the first crash that involves a woman officer.

This is the latest in a series of disasters to hit the navy, and comes just months after a naval ship sank off Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, leaving one worker dead and four missing.

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/9-ships-searching-for-missing-naval-aircraft-that-crashed-off-goa-coast-749435?pfrom=home-lateststories